Personally, being a flaming red head myself. I have always reclaimed the word ginger, biscuit, GINGa all through my life, got to have a laugh or people will crumble you aye. Same with anything, words are just words and in my humble opinion, only you are responsible for how you allow others words to affect you. People need to loosen up.
I also was born with a sense of humour, which helps.